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With their home football field soon to be torn down, the Ottawa Gee-Gees have found new digs.

The Gee-Gees are fast-tracking a plan to build a new permanent home for their football team at the university campus in time for the start of the 2012 OUA season.

The team, which has been using Frank Clair Stadium as its home field, will be displaced next season due to the massive facelift planned for Lansdowne Park.

The property, which the university purchased from Algonquin College, is located at 200 Lees Ave., with direct access to the Lees transit stop and has rapid access to the Queensway.

Athletic director Luc Gelineau said the biggest challenge facing the athletic department is fitting construction of the $8-million facility into a “tight” nine-month schedule. All work on the 3,500-seat field must be completed by the end of August.

The entire budget for the project will be covered by the athletic department.

“We have to get it done by August. It’s quite tight, but that’s the project we have in mind,” said Gelineau. “This facility we’re talking about, (the space) is quite tight, so we will have some stands, but it won’t be a large amount of seating.”

The Gee-Gees currently average a bit more than 5,000 fans for home games, but that number can double with rivalry and playoff games.

Along with the seating capacity, there will be standing room spots planned along the sidelines.

“We’re hoping that once Lansdowne is done, we will continue to play our major games there,” said Gelineau. “We’d like to have our games on campus, but, for example, with the revival of Carleton and the (crosstown rivalry) Panda game, we could play that at Lansdowne.”

The plan still has some hurdles to clear with university administration, and the club is expected to make an announcement shortly laying out details of the construction timeline.

“Nothing has been finalized. We just received approval to move forward, but there’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Gelineau. “But we’re converting an empty parking lot into a playing field, which will be a lot better than what’s there at the moment, but there are a few challenges ahead and the deadline is key.”

The Gee-Gees practice field, located at 801 King Edward Ave., was never seriously considered as a temporary site.

“When you look at other universities across the country, they have several playing fields. So having another one for us is not a luxury, it’s a need,” said Gelineau. “The practice field we have right now will keep its function as it is, but extending it to allow us to play football games is not very effective. We don’t have enough security, we’re restricted in the length of the field, and we’re limited by the stands as well.”